Improvement in rotary steam-engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

D. O. TURNER, OF AZTALAN, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18,255, dated September22, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, D. G. TURNER, of Aztalan, in the county of Jeffersonand State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement inRotary Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had totheaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich- Figure 1 is a side view of an engine constructed according to myinvention with one of the cylinder-heads removed. Fig.2 is a section ofthe same in a plane parallel with Fig.1 through the center of one of thesteamchambers. Fig. 3 is a section of the engine in a plane passingthrough the aXis.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveralfigures.

A is what I will term the cylinder of the engine, consisting merely of ashell which incloses the working parts, cast with or bolted onto thebed-plate B.

C is the main shaft, whose bearings are either in the heads D D of thecylinder or in standards outside of the cylinder-heads. The drawingsrepresent the bearings in the cylinder-heads themselves.

E is the steam-wheel, secured to the shaft 0 by keying or otherwise,said wheel being of cast-iron,generallyin one piece, and being composedof a hub, to which is attached by a plate a a deep rim projecting fromeither side of the said plate, and having two cavities F F turned in thesides of the said rim, the said cavities constituting the steamchannels.

The engine represented is a double engine. A single one requires onlyone of the above cavities or channels.

A full description of the channel F and the parts working therein willserve to explain the other channel F and parts belonging to it, as bothchannels are constructed and fitted up alike.

I) is a groove turned around the inner peripherical surface of thechannel F, and c is a rabbet turned in the outer peripherical surfacethereof.

cl is a ring bolted to the outer side surface of the exterior of thechannel and lapping over the rabbet 0, so as to form a groove whosesides are in the same planes perpendicular to the axis of the mainshaft, as the sides of the groove 1).

G is a flat plate of the form of about threefourths of a ring, havingits edges inserted and confined within the groove 19 and rabbet 0, butfitted loosely thereinto. The rabbet c and ring d are used in place of agroove to enable the plate G to be put in its place.

, H is a stationary piece of metal secured to the cylinder-head D andreaching to the back of the channel F, said piece fitting to the innerperipherical surface of the channel, but being eccentric on its outerside, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. a

I is what I term the floating abutment, placed in the channel F andconnected by a knuckle c with the piece I-I, said abutment fittingsteam-tight between the back of the channel F and the inner side of theplate Gr,

fitting also to theinnerperipherical surface of the channel F, andturned on its exterior concentric to the outer peripherical surface ofthe channel F, but only fitting to two opposite portions f f of thelatter surface, which project inward concentrically to the remainder ofthe said surface, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This floating abutmentterminates with an eccentric curve g on the side farthest from the pieceII. It is made hollow, as shown in Fig. 2, and has the end of theinduction steampipe J secured in it, and it is fitted with a flap ValveK, which is closed by the parts ff of the channel as the latter pass it;but it is opened by the pressure of the steam, as shown in Fig. 2, whenthe other portions of the outer peripherical surface of the channel passit. The plate G is connected with the floating abutment by a screw orstudZ passing through a slot m in the former, as shown in Fig. 1, andsecured into the latter, the said slot allowing no play between theplate and the abutment in the direction of their revolution, butallowing the abutment to play in all other directions.

M M are two pistons upon which the steam in the channel F actsalternately to cause the revolution of the wheel E, said pistons beinghinged by knuckle-joints k 7t to the outer peripherical portion of thechannel F, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to be capable of swinging into aposition across the channel, as shown in the lower part of Fig. 2, toclose the channel, in which position they are respectively supported bytheir edges being received within notches h h in theinn er peri-phericalsurface of the channel, and to be also capable of swinging into recesses71 in the outer peripherical surface of the channel, as shown in theupper part of Fig. 2, in which latter position their faces form portionsof the same cylindrical surfaces as the surfaces of the parts ff of thechannel. These pistons contain each a channel j in the back side, intowhich, when the piston is in the position shown in the upper part ofFig. 2, steam can enter to get behind the piston at a proper time, aswill be hereinafter explained, to force it to the position shown in thelower part of the said figure.

L is the eduction steam pipe, passing through and secured into the plateG.

The operation of the engine is as follows: Steam being admitted by theinduction-pipe J to the stationary abutment issues through the valve Kinto the channel F, and acts upon each of the pistons lWl in turn todrive the steam-wheel E in the direction of the arrow shown upon it inFigs. 1 and 2, the abutment being stationary and the plate G also, thelatter being pressed by the steam between the abutment and that pistonwhich is at any time operative against the outer face of the groove 17and the face of the ring 61, with which, as well as with the abutmentand the operative piston, the said plate forms steamtight joints andprevents any escape of steam to the cylinder or shell A. The jointsbetween the plate G and the piston and abutment are preserved by anysuitable arrangement of packing applied in the edges of the piston andsides of the abutment. The steam commences to operate on each pistonjust as it comes to the position shown at the upper part of Fig. 2-1.6., as soon as it passes the valve K. Until the piston reaches thisposition the valve K has been for a time closed by the projecting part ff of the passage F or by the piston itself; but as soon as the pistonpasses the valve the latter is caused to open by the pressure of thesteam Within the abutment acting upon its back side, and immediatelyafter the opening of the valve the steam escaping from the valve intothe cavity j behind the piston forces the piston out of its recess '5and across the passage F; butthe too sudden movement of the piston intothe channel is prevented by the curved face 9 of the abutment. Thepiston continues to be acted upon by the pressure of steam till itarrives nearly at the eduction-pipe L, by which time the projection fbehind it will have arrived in contact with the valve and closed it,thus cutting off the supply of steam. The piston is returned to itsrecess in passing over the face of the piece H.

It will be understood by the above description and reference to thedrawings that the steam acts upon each of the two pistons during rathermore than one-fourth of a revolution; but by making the engine doubleand arranging the abutments of the two channels F F at about ninetydegrees of a circle from each other the wheel will be acted uponcontinuously.

The example of my engine represented in the drawings is intended to workon the principle of what is generally known as Woolfs engine, theeduction-pipe leading from the channel L communicating with theinductionpipe J of the channel F, so that after having been used at theboiler-pressure in the channel F the steam may be used expansively inthe channel F.

I do not claim making the engine with two sets of pistons working inseparate steamchannels; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The valve Kin its recessed seat and the protuberant rim ff, as arrangedwith the steamchannels, floating abutments, and hinged pistons, asherein fully specified.

D. O. TURNER.

Witnesses:

J. G. DUNHAM, D. I. WHITE.

